A Truthful Report
by RebeccaRoy
Summary: A reporter comes to England with one thing on her mind many years after the war with Voldemort is over. That is to find the truth, how much is an author's take on the world and how much is truth? She is there to find out.
1. Meet The Family

_Disclaimer:_

 _I do not own the characters of Harry Potter, these belong to that wonderful author JK Rowling and the various publishing companies used to publish her works. I am however borrowing them, no not to make money but for fun and fun only. Only JK Rowling, her publishers, Warner Brothers and who JK Rowling says can make money and she has not given me permission for that, so no I do not make money off this, again it is for fun!_

 _Summary:_

 _A reporter from the American Magical world is sent to the British Magical world to interview one Harry "Potter". She learns far more about loving families, good friends and that things are not always the way they seem. My reporter is no Mary-Sue of course, it will come out that she is married, has children and is as normal as could be._

 _So this is more a response to all the bashing out there and an amusing and plausible way to explain things. In this story Harry is a hero but not without a lot of help and there is little bashing accept of what the characters do to themselves really. The timeline is shifted a decade back, so everything takes place a decade further in the past than in canon. Oh, and yes some last names are changed, as this is supposed to take place in our world, a few names were changed, not all but a few to throw off those who would try to find the magical world._

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Chapter One:

June 2008 Mildenhall, England:

It had been years, well over a decade to get this interview. Magical Britain after the last pureblood war was reclusive to the rest of the world. Not really, in a bad way, they still traveled and visited the world and allowed others to visit but they did not involve themselves in politics or wars outside their borders. The last pureblood war had seen many old families reduced to poverty and despair from being on the loosing side. The winner's lead by Harry Fleamont-Black had helped them get back on their feet and there was a thriving economy from what we could see, but they were tight-lipped about what was going on fully and never spoke about the war to outsiders.

The books about Harry Fleamont-Black, (Harry Potter to protect Mr. Fleamont-Black and his world) told all about those years and his part in the war, or so we thought. Now they wanted to share their side of the story almost a year after the last book had been published on one Harry Fleamont-Black. So here was I, a graduate of Yarrow School of Magic in Colorado, a reporter well liked in America and allowed to come interview one Harry Fleamont-Black. I was surprised at the home I was invited to; it was not Harry Fleamont-Black's home, but that of his aunt and uncle. They lived in Mildenhall, a small town in Suffolk England. The home I came on was a charming pile of Victorian stone three stories high charmingly called Rosewood Cottage. I rang the bell and a man answered the door, his hair was pure sliver, he had a large silver mustache and beady blue eyes and towered over my five foot four frame. He had a bit of a belly but still looked fit, this was Victor Thomas Yeoman (not Dursley), the uncle of one Harry Fleamont-Black who had raised him.

"Ah right on time!" He said grinning, "do come in, Li would have come and greeted you but she has been having a bit of trouble with the new oven I got her, will not let me help though, says I would just burn the scones and she is…."

"Uncle please don't talk off Mrs. Martin's ear, let her in." A man who only could be Harry Fleamont-Black himself said smirking behind him, "he is always like this, I love him but he is so childish at times."

"I am not, and you boy better behave after all you put me through raising you and all." Victor said with no malice in his voice, "You and David as thick as thieves the tales I could tell you…"

"Victor stop talking the young ladies ear off and let her in!" A very old man with pure white hair, very thin leaning on a cane said from behind them, "come my dear, I am Vernon Yeoman, the father of this young lout." This to Victor.

"I love you too dad." Victor said ushering me into the hall.

It was a lovely hall with oak paneled walls, a pretty blue and white tile floor with a combination mirror, seat and umbrella stand by the door. There was one long window by the front door to let light in that lit up the long hall that ended in a back door that mirrored the front. A lovely wide staircase led to the second floor, I hung up my overcoat on a peg and followed the men into the sitting room. It was like stepping back in time, the room was pure Victorian charm, and I thought the emerald green horsehair couches would not be comfortable but found that was not the case. They were nearly as comfortable as my couches back home. Seated on a settee was a pure white doll faced Persian cat that looked at me with solemn green eyes and came over to sit by me.

"The couches are replicas." Vernon said, "Li, that is Lilac found the pattern and I set to work on them, I was a carpenter for many a long year, since my youth and made good money in that trade. Over fifty years and retired for twenty now. There are a few things you need to know, great book series and all but hardly the truth much of it."

"They are good books, such a lovely writer and so kind and giving, to give away so much money." Victor said smiling, "she a dear."

"To start with dad rescued me from the brute that was my biological father, what happened to Harry in the series of books happened to me, only far, far worse." Victor said, "until I was ten I was treated less than a slave, and my twin sister was treated hardly better. I was vilified and the lies the neighbors were told, well they did not care one wit about me or my sister and heaped abuse on us as well."

"Are you a mage?" I asked.

"No, not at all, but my birth father was an evil man as was the woman he married, when he nearly beat me to death my sister tried to stop him and my birth mother attacked her with a knife. It was there we were sent to live with our grandparents who became our parents, we were a handful and there were many who said we would not amount to anything given how we were raised. Yet dad here and mum, may she rest in peace took us in and loved us and treated us as their own."

"They were, are, my so called son was evil and what he did, well, quite a few people went to jail, my son and his wife got life as it was found they had killed the one person that had come to the defense of my grand children now children. They died in prison and I am glad they are gone."

This was news to me, I, like a lot of people assumed that Harry Fleamont-Black had a rough childhood and that his aunt and uncle had not treated him at all kindly. To learn the truth like this was a surprise and showed how the mage world could still be bigoted against mundane. Then again I was here, twenty years after the battle of Hogwarts to set things straight. We knew that Ms. Rowling was a brilliant writer and that much of what she had written was her own work but even then, what was hers and what was the truth? Harry ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked at a point away from me, his green eyes seeing something not there, perhaps into the past at that moment.

"What you need to know miss is that we love Rowling, we really do, but all she knows is that there was a war, the names involved and Hogwarts exists, that is it. She changed certain names and locations" Harry said, "she made up a beautiful world, but that is fairy tales and such and the real world is well, not as much fun I am afraid. She has a wonderful imagination and had come up with a magical world before she was contacted and blended both into the wonderful books."

"But magic is real, there are magi and goblins, brownies and fairies, giants, mer-people and the like." I said.

"Yes this is true, but how she described them came from research into mundane lore and her own vivid imagination, which is amazing by the way, I love the books and enjoy reading them, I just read them all in fact again." Harry said smiling, "however fiction is fiction and the truth must come out, I was not kept in a cupboard, I had a room of my own and the cupboard was a refuge when things got hard for me."

Harry rose and sighed, something was bothering him and I waited, I am a good reporter, I can read body language and people very well. I put the truth in my stories and will not let the editor bend or shape my words just to make a story. I could see the nervousness in him, the tell of someone that had something hard to say. He took a seat and gave a small said smile.

"When I first came here and was dropped off by professor Dumbledore, on the death of my parents at their request, I seemed to be healthy despite the cut on my head that was scanned and healed of all dark magic. My two aunts, my uncle and granddad, accepted me into the Yeoman household. Yet, I refused the bedroom they gave me and retreated into a hall closet, as you can see here there is no cupboard under the stairs, need to be able to get to the basement after all. "

"We made him up a place in an old wardrobe in our bedroom." Victor said, "He slept there instead of his room for the first three years and after that was able to sleep in his own room but only with curtains around his bed."

"I still cannot sleep in an open room, not even with my wife there." Harry said, "The beds at Hogwarts were a lifesaver as they are four-poster beds with curtains, like home. So no I was not kept in a cupboard against my will, ever."

Before I could say anything more two women came into the room laughing about something, one had a tea cart loaded with a white teapot with dainty blue flowers painted on it with matching teacups, saucers and little plates. There were little cakes, cookies, finger sandwiches, scones and crumpets with little pots of jam and clotted cream. The women were a contrast, they were both older ladies, yet one was tall and very thin clad in an expensive gown of green that went well with her green eyes, her blond hair was short and curly. The other woman was tall too but was strongly built and this clearly was Marge Yeoman, a woman even I had heard of across the pond. She was clad in a long denim skirt that came to her ankles, a paisley blue shirt and navy waistcoat. She had long brown hair she kept back in a bun and on her feet instead of the dainty shoes her sister-in-law wore; she had thick comfortable black docs on.

"Hello dear I am Lilac Yeoman nee Evans." The tall blond woman said.

"I am Marge Yeoman, spinster and proud of it, and the one to keep young Harry in line." Marge said smiling widely at me.

"Ah hello." I said not sure how to deal with a nice Marge after all, "thank you for having me over."

"Not at all, we are glad you are here." Lilac said smiling, "we did like the books, amusing and really a how not to raise Harry really, as if I could be cruel to him with who his sister was, never a kinder woman in all the world."

"You loved your sister." I said.

"Of course, I had to comfort her when she found out she was going to Hogwarts and I was not, she did not want to go if I could not go with her, honestly I was glad I was not a mage, I see that shocks you my dear."

"Well yes, I thought you would be jealous of her."

"Oh my no! I have my own talents, she hers, I modeled for a bit, she was prettier than me but well, they don't want red heads I am afraid, and she hated the idea of dressing up and walking down a cat walk, I loved it, though I got out after a while but that is a story for a different day, you are here about our Harry."

"Yes I am, it seems you love and care for him." I said.

"We do, this is no act, we really do love Harry, and if you harm him, well you will be out of work faster than you can say boo." Vernon said eyeing me sternly, "I allowed you to come knowing how you report and all but you will not hurt my grandson."

"I could not do something that cruel, I believe in telling the truth and nothing but, and that is what I will do here." I said.

"That is all we can ask, dear." Marge said beaming, "first let's have tea, and get to know one another, that way it will be easier for all of us as this is going to take a long time I take it."

"I have a few days or weeks, however long it takes." I replied, "What do you wish to know?"

We talked much of that afternoon, I told them about my work and they and myself shared their lives with me. How Victor had started his own toy making company that had moved from selling toys to stores to online, and not a moment too soon as several large retailors wanted to buy him out and he did not want that. Going online meant he could still create toys that children could use throughout their lives and enjoy on all levels. Lilac had invested her earnings from modeling into the company as had Vernon from his work as a carpenter. Marge trained guide dogs for the disabled and lived with her brother sister-in-law and father, she had never moved away from home and never married but made a good life for herself as helping raise her nephews and now their children was her lives work.

A kinder and more humble family I had never met before and I really enjoyed being with them. They were who they said they were and were all well educated; well adjusted happy people, though that had taken years after the war to really get back to this point. As everyone knows the war did not end with the banishment of one Tom Marvolo but went into a kind of lull for a time before it came back with a vengeance, but not before Harry had a mostly normal childhood and schooling.

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 _Therefore, that is the first chapter of this fic, and this Yeoman family is more along the lines of normal here. Harry is not abused and treated rather well here in fact. Mildenhall is a small town in England that houses the joint RAF/US airbase; this agreement goes back to WWII. It is voluntary on both sides and both sides could agree to not have the base if they so chose to. This is not like bases are in Germany or any other occupied nation, this base is a base of allies as England was amazing in WWII and were grateful for our help in defeating the Axis powers, though they did defeat the German Air Force on their own._

 _They and the French who had escaped at Dunkirk really were the driving force in Europe to push back the Nazi powers, we Americans helped a lot but the real war for us was the Pacific as that was really far more personal than Europe was at the time. Pearl Harbor and all kind of got us a bit upset. Anyway, just a bit of history as I love history and could go on for days about history and stuff._

 _So do review please, no flames but an honest review on how you liked it would be great!_


	2. Meet Hogwarts

Chapter Two:

June 2008 Mildenhall, England:

Two days after I had my first interview with the Dursleys and Harry I was invited back to continue the story. I entered the house and was ushered back into the sitting room where Harry was seated with his aunt Lilac who was knitting a sweater (jumper for the English reading this). It was clear she was not going say much as this was all Harry's show as it were and he was the one to do the talking. He was clad in what looked like a police uniform and looked a bit tired and weary.

"So you want to know about Hogwarts I am sure." Harry said, "how much was true and all?"

"Yes, that would be good." I said, "Loved the books."

"So did I, well Nobel was a prat, there are four houses, and all the professors mentioned really do teach there with a few more, can't teach over 800 students with only one teacher per subject, with each class taught being twenty students each that means there was a teaching staff of forty teachers not to mention the staff. Filch and his wife, yes wife, the hundred brownies, giants that guarded the outside of the castle, the centaurs and their forest, why it is called forbidden and I could go on and on."

"I have never been to Hogwarts, is it really a castle?" I asked.

"Not in the medieval since of a castle, it is built more along the Roman fort or castra designs than anything, you know how in the dark ages the mage community pulled away from the mundane and created their own society and stayed out of the madness and fighting? They kept a lot of Roman traditions, it is why spells are taught in Latin in the majority of the world, you know as well as I do that the actual language matters little it is the will, the words power the will. So back to Hogwarts, it is a very magical place and I remember seeing her for the first time all those years ago." Harry said a far off look in his eyes as he took me back to those far off days.

September 1, 1981, Charring cross Station, London, England

Victor and Lilac Yeoman were two hardworking normal people who had raised two fine boys and both were heading off to boarding school today. They were going to miss both of them dearly, both boys had grown into fine young men and they would be missed. Young David Vernon Yeoman was getting tall, he had his mother's blond hair and his fathers blue eyes and build and looked sharp in his Smith Prep uniform, a maroon blazer, white shirt, blue and red striped tie, gray trousers, and polished black shoes. Harry was clad in his uniform as well, a gray jumper over white shirt with black tie, gray trousers and polished black shoes. His robes were in his trunk, which was beside him with a beautiful snowy owl perched on the trunk.

"Well then, this is it boys." Victor said doing his best to keep a stiff upper lip as it were, "off to your new adventure."

"You will write every week." Lilac said, "let us know how you are doing."

"Of course mum." David said.

"Yes aunt Li." Harry said.

"Have a good term, see you at Christmas." Victor said hugging Harry first, "do try to stay out of trouble."

"I always do." Harry said grinning up at him.

"Remember we love you so much." Lilac said hugging him, "off you go, stay safe and out of trouble!"

Harry walked with his trunk to a pillar and was out of sight in a moment; he had expected that, the two-hour orientation that he had gone to explained that and many other things about the magical world. One of the most interesting was that he was not a wizard nor was a girl a witch; they were mages or magi and had a wonderful gift they had to learn to use for good. He had met with all his class, a very small class of only forty students, some he liked, Hermione Bauer was smart and when she started to talk about _Hogwarts a History_ he had found a new friend, as he loved history and here was a kindred soul. Others were not so nice, Draco Nobel was a spoiled stuck up brat of a boy and Zacharias Smith was not much better. Ron Weatherly was a bit shy and Neville Longbottom did not say a word to him but wrote him after.

Harry saw Mr. and Mrs. Filch, the old squib caretaker and his wife, Mr. Filch was a highly decorated WWII vet who had gone through many campaigns during WWII from the evacuation of Dunkirk, to D-Day and beyond. He had lost his right leg not in battle but in a freak accident when a tree fell from a sudden thunderstorm and crushed his leg so badly it had to be removed. He used a wooden peg leg, one he made himself, as he did not like the one the Army had given him. Now the old caretaker was here with his wife to usher the first years into the compartments reserved for them. Harry was just happy he was not forced to sit with Nobel or his ilk. Instead, he ended up in a compartment with Neville Longbottom, a chubby sandy-hair boy, Ron Weatherly with the trademark flaming red hair and freckles of the Weatherlys and Hermione Bauer who's bushy brown hair was trying to escape it's plait. She was reading a book on _Mundane Persecution and Parallels to the Third Reich_ by Bathsheba Bagshot.

"Oh good morning Fleamont-Black." Neville said, "How are you?"

"Good, you Longbottom?" Harry asked.

"Can't complain, I am relieved I have enough magic to go to Hogwarts, then again after my oh so loving uncle tried to kill me and I managed magic I really should not be." Neville replied, "then again he does try to claim he was trying to help me find my magic but gran, well she says he was trying to kill me and I believe her."

"Wow, that is horrible, why would he do that?" Hermione asked.

"Same reason people kill those who are from mundane roots and go after innocent Jews, by the way do you think that Grindlewald had anything to do with what Hitler did?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Not directly, Grindlewald just went after magicals he hated and Hitler after everyone else really." Hermione said, "Only thing they have in common is they operated the same time frame, even Grindlewald has stated he would not have worked with and I quote 'a Jewish peasant mundane with delusions of grandeur '. Oh Hogwarts will be fun, you like history?"

"Love it, both sides, so much out there to learn, I do hope we have a good history instructor." Harry said. "But Hitler was not Jewish, at all, that is just a rumor."

"Well I heard the great grandson of Cuthbert Binns will start teaching, his father has retired now." Ron said, "Unless that is a joke by my loving brothers Fred and George."

"No, that is right, I read the pamphlets, didn't you?" Hermione asked Ron.

"You like this all the time, bloody menace." Ron shot back.

"Only to those that do not value learning and lean on the fact they are pureblood." Hermione shot back, "oh dear that was rude, mum said for me to not be rude, and here I am…"

"No, you are right, I am sorry too." Ron said.

"Good, we all can be friends, now tell me what house do you want to be in?" Harry asked.

Harry was a smart and cunning and very sure of himself. He could stand up for himself but did not have a swelled head; his aunts at the least would not have allowed that. So it was only natural he would be the leader here. Hermione was raised by loving parents and had not ever really got on with children her age, mainly because she was full three grades at the least above them. This lead to social issues with those of her age and so her parents had enrolled her in Boys and Girls Club of London which had helped her quite a bit, still she could be bossy but at least recognized that now.

The four pre-teens spent their train ride in peace and were given a nice healthy lunch on the train with the option to buy sweets if they wished. Older students came to see how they were doing and both Filch and Mrs. Filch, a pleasant plump woman clad in bright blue dress, crisp white apron and sturdy walking shoes with her brown hair tied back from her smiling face came to see how they were doing as well. This was very different from the books, but then again the books were wonderful fiction and this was real life. You can't have only sweets for hungry pre-teens and teens to eat after all nor any adult supervision.

The train got to Hogsmeade station later that afternoon after eight hours on the train. Pulling into the small but cheery station, they got off the train and were steered to where a giant of a man waited (he was in fact a giant, not as large as giants of yore but still a giant even at "only" eight feet tall). He was clad mostly in leather, from cowhide brown trousers to a gray dragonskin, coat and matching boots to a red dragonskin waistcoat and wide- brimmed gray dragonskin hat. He had a large staff with a light at the end and lots of wild black hair he kept tied back in a loose ponytail. His long thick beard was braided and his merry black eyes nearly twinkled. This was Rebus Hagrid, the groundskeeper and main teacher of Care of Magical Creatures as he was just the right size and strength to deal with magical animals.

He led the first years not to the main road but to a side path that led to the lake, it was paved and had glow globes all along it and even stairs in places. They came around a bend and could see Hogwarts standing tall against the evening sky. It was Roman in size and layout, (the magical world still used the Roman way of building, up to the industrial revolution in fact). It was beautiful and huge, there were four large towers on the outer defense walls and the main school sat twenty feet back from those ten-foot thick walls (made of a combination of stone, the core of tamped earth and watertight whitewash for the outer walls). Hogwarts proper was built on a square around a large inner courtyard. Each side was one hundred and sixty feet long, with nine floors above ground, it towered over the land. It was very impressive and though built like a fortress it was a school primarily. One could make out the huge great-hall on the edge of the cliff, a massive, warm, inviting place that filled the children with awe. Though it was not really a medieval castle, everyone here felt that it was a castle, for those that meant no harm, it was a warm feeling for others, it became a warning. This was the first level of defense of the school.

There were boats waiting for them, sturdy boats that had no oars but Harry saw dolphins, magical ones that to mundane would look pure gray but to a magical? They had different shades of blue all over them. They were harnessed to the boats willingly and chattered to Hagrid who laughed and said something to them in English. Harry was stunned, they were intelligent? He did not understand what they said but then again there was so much he had to learn. He got into a boat with Hermione, Ron and Neville and, once all the children were settled Hagrid stood in one boat and gave the order to start forward. The journey was not as long as Harry thought it would be, twenty minutes later he winced as they came to what looked like a wall, but at a word from Hagrid they found themselves in a large underground grotto guarded by giants "only" a foot or so taller than Hagrid.

"Come then, a short walk and we are in the reception hall." Hagrid said.

"For him short, for us, well…." Ron pointed to stairs headed up and disappearing around a corner.

"Get used to it, its all stairs." Harry said.

"Never grew up with lots of stairs did I?" Ron said a smirk on his face, "no I grew up at the burrow, my grandfather loaned out his property in WWII for a storage bunker, they built it well, and when they left my grandfather saw they had built it like a house underground, complete with bedrooms, bathrooms, sitting room and even a large hall divided up into family area, kitchen area and dining room . Oh and a garage dad uses for the family car and storage and a storage room we use as a potions lab. It was their way of thanking him for his help and his service in the Battle of Britain."

"Typical Weatherly, mundane lovers all of you." A boy only a couple inches taller than Harry (and that was not tall as Harry had not hit any sort of growth spurt as of yet) with white blond hair, a pale pointed face and cold gray eyes said, he spotted Harry and gave what should have been a smile, "names Nobel, Draco Nobel, you don't, well you don't want to hang with those that like mundane, all the wars and suffering those cause, well…"

"What side did your family support in WWII?" Harry said ignoring the hand held out to him, "you look like a Nazi to me."

Nobel went pink and stepped back and did not say another word; his grandfather had ignored the world and had hid behind his wards in the countryside. There was no way that anyone in England magical or not could have missed WWII. There were bombings everywhere, mostly in the cities but there were some country properties affected, if they were near an airstrip, it got so bad that airstrips were disguised very well by the English people. The Battle of Britain crippled the Luftwaffe and never again did Germany try to use planes to take over England, and, a few short years later with help from their allies they overran Germany and ended a horrible war. Harry knew his grandfather had served and his aunt was proud of what her father had done. It was sad that only a few short years later a dark lord had risen in England and went on a killing spree the likes not seen since the Middle Ages. Harry's mother had stopped him and he survived, he was here due to a combination his mother's love and a miracle. Magic had not saved him at that time.

He came out of his musing and realized they had climbed all the way up to the top of the stairs, he was not even out of breath, then again his uncle had helped prepare him (and Dudley) with a summer regimen of running and hiking all over England, so he was in fine shape. To his surprise, Nobel did not have a problem, and despite complaining Ron was fit as well. In fact, most of those here had not had a problem with the hundreds of steps to the top of the cliff. They walked through another wall here and found themselves in a vast chamber so large that Harry knew that three of the cottages back home could fit here, and they were not small homes at all!

Five people waited for them here, he knew them from the pamphlets he had received, there was the tall, dour head of Slytherin, Severus Snape, he was clad all in black, from his high collared black frock coat, and trousers to his heavy buckled black dragonskin boots, and long black masters robes he wore with pride. His black hair hung around his pale angular face dominated by a large hooked nose and intense black eyes. Next to him stood the tall thin form of the head of Gryffindor, Minerva McGonagall clad in a long gown with full skirts of dark green with her family tartan fastened about her to show she was married. Next to her was the tiny head of Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick with dark brown hair and mustache, he was clad in a suit and tie and if not for his matching navy magical master's robes one would have thought him a business man in the mundane world. Next came the short plump figure of the head of Hufflepuff, Pomona Sprout. She was clad in a gown of green and brown, her pretty silver hair was barely held back in a bun and her grey eyes twinkled in merriment.

The last was the headmaster himself, Albus Dumbledore, a tall ancient man with long silver hair and beard, he looked the stereotypical wizard that one could find in statues, paintings and the like and they all looked a little like this man here (he in fact would go and model for mundane artists as he found it amusing). He was clad in navy robes and matching hat with stars, moons and planets all over them, his trademark look as it were. He had on gray dragonskin buckled boots and a long staff he was leaning on peering at the students before him over his half moon glasses with his piercing blue eyes. He smiled a warm and inviting smile that helped ease the children's fears, only a slight bit. It was the heads of houses duty to be here to greet the students, the headmaster could if he wanted but most did not, but not Dumbledore, he always came to great the new students.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He said smiling at them, "as you can see these are the heads of houses here at Hogwarts, they will introduce themselves to you now."

"Sir is this how we choose our house?" Hermione asked, "Here now, I thought it was before the school?"

"It is, but we want you to know who the heads are before you head in to be sorted." Dumbledore said smiling.

"Oh, alright sir, sorry sir." Hermione said.

"No need my dear, no need at all." Dumbledore said.

The heads of houses introduced themselves to the children, and they already had an idea of who would be in their house as they looked over the smallest first year class they had seen ever, forty students, that was all. Hermione Bauer, Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Ron Weatherly, Parvati and Padma Patil. Then there was Zacharias Smith, Lisa Turpin, Sally-Anne Perks, Daphne Greengrass, Draco Nobel, Pansy Parks, Greg Greenwood and Vincent Craig, Theodore Nott, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Conner, Stephen Cornfoot, Tracy Davis, Fay Dunbar, Kevin Entwhistle, Lily Moon, Megan Jones, Morag MacDougal, Ernest Macmillan. Blaise Zamboni, Emma Vein, along with Sally Stone, Wayne Hopkins, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Sue Li, Oliver Rivers, Sophie Roper, Rionach O'Neil, Roger Malone and finally Harry Fleamont-Black, a miracle child to be sure. Such a small class and it made Dumbledore said to see so few here, Tom Marvolo (his mundane relations that had survived refused to allow him to use the Riddle name and left him a gutted mansion to show how much they hated what he had done to his father and grandparents) had been very evil indeed.

The children were lead into the great hall and looked around in awe and many were very nearly overwhelmed by the hall. It was huge, large enough to hold a thousand students and the professors with ease. The ceiling was a marvel of Roman engineering, it towered over them a full sixty feet above them with large well made windows in the upper part of the thick stone wall, whitewashed inside and out. Glorious banners made of cloth of gold and silver hung over each of the four long tables that showed the coat of arms of the each house. Gryffindor was at the outer wall with Ravenclaw next, a walkway up to the front between these and then Hufflepuff and Slytherin at the wall that faced the school. On a dais sat the head staff table draped in cloth of gold with a huge banner of the Hogwarts crest behind it. There were thousands of candles floating in midair not only to create light but a since of awe. The ceiling was charmed to show the outside sky and so well done that it looked as if the banners were not hooked to anything. The heads of house stopped at the foot of the dais and the headmaster himself put a stool with what looked like a tattered hat on it.

June 2008 Mildenhall, England:

"So you know the rest, where I was sorted, the enemy Nobel made of himself insulting myself and Ron and mostly Neville, Neville got a detention with dear old Snape for breaking Draco's nose for insulting his parents who died at his aunt's hands in the first Pureblood war." Harry said taking a sip of his tea, "oh those were the days, such lovely days."

"What about the trap set for Quirrell?" I asked.

"Oh man he laughed and laughed and laughed when he read he was made such a villain, he is the muggle studies teacher has a deep respect and love for the mundane world. He is a Sikh for heaven sake! That is what is up with the turban, and it's a bright blue, not purple, he has no hair never has really, caused him some grief as a kid but he does not mind now. "

"So what was up with all those traps a first year could get, oh, yea I get it."

"Those traps dear Jo set up, well first years were not suppose to get through them, but then with Ron and Hermione and Neville, yes dear Neville is such a good friend, a bit clumsy and horrible with wanded magic until he went through puberty but a great friend."

"So you are going to tell me Umbridge is a kind and thoughtful woman?" I asked.

"No, she is evil and horrible and I really want her gone from the ministry, only thing I can do is contain her, pure evil that one." He said darkly.

It was late that first day we talked, and all we had talked about what his early childhood (one filled with love and everything a young child could need) and a small bit about Hogwarts. I had seen pictures of the ancient castle, no, not castle, it was called that but only because it had four huge towers but no more than that. It was safe to say there was no other building like it in all the world. If I did not know better I would have thought it built closer to the twentieth century not a thousand years prior. That was how advanced the Romans had been. I had to retire for the evening and looked forward to what Harry had to talk about the next day.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 _So there is that, and remember this is shifted back ten years earlier, and this is England, where history from what I am told is as important as breathing. You can't go more than a few feet most places and not see history, not like most American cities west of the Mississippi at any rate. In addition, I am surprised that JKR did not mention much about WWII and how it really would affect the magical world. It would have, they would have known what was going on, or purebloods are just that bigoted they can't see anything beyond marrying their first cousin._

 _Anyway, WWII was huge in England, the biggest battle of the whole war was fought in the skies (in how much land it covered, or sky if you want to be technical) over Britain called "the Battle of Britain" and was huge (can't say that enough). The Nazis had a huge and I mean huge air force, the British, even with help from the US in manufacturing did not, but they won, they kept their planes in the air the whole battle, days it went on and pilots would switch out with mechanics patching up and fueling up as quick as they could and up they went again. The Nazis lost the point because battle took place all over Britain so everyone would have seen it, and I do mean everyone not living under a rock. WWII is still on the minds of many citizens, even those not involved because there is still ordinance (fancy talk for bombs) found to this day. Oh and the British were the ones that carried the day, us, meaning the USA offered a small bit of help, this was England nearly all the way. Though we do have joint bases in England, I really don't know if the English need us as much. They have a really strong Air force even now. I think they just like us. Any English here? You guys do like us right? Please say yes._ _J_

 _As I said names might be changed, but the characters are the same ones we all love. I am going off the bases that this exists in a world where Harry Potter, er Fleamont-Black is real and the Harry Potter books and movies are real too._

 _Anyway, more to come! Please don't forget to Review!_


	3. Meet Lockhart

Chapter Three:

June 2008 Mildenhall, England:

I came back the next day to find aunt Marge waiting for me, I was not sure of her, she could be crude and rude but she did have a heart of gold. It was clear she loved both Harry and David with all her heart. I came in the house ushered in by David, a large man with close cropped blond hair, merry blue eyes and mostly muscular build with a small belly. He was clad in a gray button-up shirt, jeans, boots and an apron that said, "Firefighters are the best chefs" on it. He grinned at me and led me to the kitchen, a gleaming place of well-used stainless countertops, white tile and oak cabinets with every modern convenience in the cozy comfortable place. Harry was here wearing an apron too and cutting up vegetables for dinner.

"Best place for him in the kitchen, heaven knows mum tried to teach him to cook along with me, but he really just can't grasp the finer points." David said taking a loaf of bread out of the oven.

"Well you are a git, and I dislike you." Harry said, "Lazy oaf thinks owning three restaurants around here makes him a better cook than me."

"I am a chef dear cousin, you cook, I create masterpieces, and it's what made me a great firefighter in fact."

"What happened?" I asked knowing that one could be a firefighter for decades and he was not that old.

"Got asthma too bad to be one, so I went into cooking full time, my dear wife Pansy loves it." David said, "as in Pansy Parkinson, JKR was too cruel to her in the books, she a lovey woman."

"So you don 't mind your kids will me magical?" I asked.

"Why would we mind?" Came the voice of Marge, "they are good children, and such dears, know to mind me they do."

The woman known as Marge came into the room, and she did look every bit as JKR described her, she was not an attractive woman at all on the outside. Yet you could not find a better friend or more caring human than her in those parts I am sure. Too many people look at her, see a very fat dumpy woman with lots of facial hair, and never look beyond that. If they did, they would see a true saint and a great woman with a great since of humor. In fact, after reading the books, she sent laughed and stated that the aunt Marge in that woman was not someone she would ever want to be. She also had a small bit of magic, not enough to use a wand but enough to brew potions; she had found this out when Harry got his letter.

"So you want to know more about my time at school?" Harry asked, "there is not much to tell really, I was on the Quidditch team from second year on, got good grades, took ancient runes, magical maths, advanced writing and advanced warding. Everything was peaceful until my sixth year. No dark lords, well there was Lockhart, such a ponce but he can teach."

"Lockhart can teach, yes, the man is annoying but you can't deny his talent for telling a tale. He made the hag who defeated the werewolf clan look good, risked his life to talk to her as hags, well we all know most of them are child eating fiends."

"Not all, and Helga the hag is a good hag with a heart of gold, you can tell the good hags from the bad, the bad hags can morph to look beautiful, and live in gingerbread houses. Good hags always look old, warty and live in houses of stone with huge cauldrons that are for making medicine. Plus good hags have a tattoo on their faces that show they are good hags."

"True that, a bad hag can't have that tattoo, it would not stick." I said, "but Lockhart!"

"He is a good defense instructor, a bit vain, a ponce but a good instructor." Harry said, "he took the defense post my second year and he has not left yet."

"Why would he do that?" I asked, "seems fishy to me."

"It's not really, he is a lot older than he looks, a lot older, and he can't have children. So he fills that void by teaching." Harry said, "still a ponce though."

"A very good teacher, and a good man." Marge said, "look at me, ugly but kind, you can be beautiful and kind too, like him."

"Yea, and he was, is a good professor." Harry said, "though he is a ponce."

It seemed Harry did like Lockhart but still was not respectful of the man as much as he should have been. I had met the man and he was vain, so very, very vain, he had beautiful curly blond hair, flawless skin that he did use makeup (in the magical world men do wear makeup as much as women, though it is more toned down that you hardly notice it) and finely tailored clothing. He was rich, very rich and did not need to teach, but he had been cursed and could never wed or have children from the curse. So he decided to teach, the side effect of the curse? The defense curse was removed so he stayed, much to the annoyance of one Severus Snape.

September 1, 1982 Hogwarts:

Harry sat on at the Gryffindor table wishing he was not in the same uniforms as the firsties. He was a second year now and wanted to wear the black trousers of the upper years, yet it was tradition for the first two years to dress different than the upper years did. At least this year he had a hood added to his robes lined with red silk and he had red trim on the robes. First years did not have that, they spent very little time outside as they were just getting used to wands and using magic most of the time. In fact he remembered classes of lecture upon lecture, he had to learn about his own body (which was embarrassing but thankfully sex separated) and how a man uses magic different from a women. Women were more earth based and so more powerful than men in magic.

He had to learn Occulumency which was not fun at all as it did hurt sometimes. The physical education classes were interesting, it they were very close to being like Ti-Chi and Harry found them relaxing. He had swimming classes in the large heated swimming pool and this year he got to start flying lessons. First years were not allowed brooms or even near one, not even if they could fly at home. Noble had complained until Nymphadora "Polly" Black-Tonks had put a stop to that by writing his mother. Narcissa Star-Bright Noble was on good terms with her only sister Andromeda (Bellatrix had been blasted from the family for killing two other purebloods) even if she had married a mundane born. That Ted was a healer and a very good one did not hurt. Neither did the fact that Polly was a metamorphmagus as was her brother Teddy. So Noble had quieted down after a letter from his mother about flying but not about other things. He was still a git and always would be. Harry was looking forward to flying at Hogwarts, he had flown at the burrow as had Neville but at the school over the lake was something he was looking forward to.

"Is that Lockhart next to Snape?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yea, it is, must be here for the defense job." Ron said, "heard he was able to break the curse."

"He is a ponce." Harry muttered.

"He is cursed, he can't marry or have children." Hermione said, "that was put on him by the dark lord V himself."

"That is unkind." Harry said, "still too pretty to be here."

"Not everyone can be a scrawny git like you." Fred said from across him.

"Too right, you are not a looker." George said. "Though Gin-Gin thinks so."

"Shut it you two." Ginny said, newly sorted, "I may be a firstie but I can and will take you on, plus Luna is here with me."

"Ah, yes Luna, we forgot our other sister." George said.

"Yes, dear Luna." Fred replied.

They went on like this and Harry, very hungry tucked into the food that appeared. This year like the last would be fun, and more so with Ginny and Luna here. Unlike the book they both ended up in Gryffindor, they had a pact that they would end up in the same house. Luna's mother had died when she was nine of cancer, as cancer, while very rare in the magical world it still could strike and kill. As Pandora was a pureblood and from a very inbred family, that is what had caused it, cancer would not strike a strong family but it had Pandora. Luna still was lost and the Weatherly family took Luna and her father under their wing, Xeno would be lost without their help.

Harry ate well as only a growing child can, first a plate of roast beef with mashed potatoes with vegetables in a light curry sauce. His second plate was Peking duck with fried potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, his third plate was baked salmon with fried rice and rolls with lots of butter. His last plate was dessert, he filled it with treacle tart, a slice of apple pie, a slice of cheesecake and one small bowl of fruit cocktail. He finished his meal with a bowl of rocky road ice cream, and made sure through the meal to drink lots of milk. He took a few peppermint humbugs and sighed as he was nice and full now. Once the plates and dishes of food were cleared the headmaster got back up beaming at the room.

"Now we are all fed well, let me introduce to you a man who is to become our defense professor! Professor Gilroy Lockhart!" The headmaster stepped back and let Lockhart stand to speak.

"Thank you headmaster, I do hope I can do justice to the job, many of you are wondering why a man such as myself, rich, handsome and not having to work would come to Hogwarts? I want to teach, I know first hand what the dark arts can do and I want to teach you to defend yourselves from that. The rumors going around about me are true, I was cursed, but I will leave a legacy. At the very least I can continue to win the Woman's Weekly smile award each year!"

"Look at Snape." Harry said, "he wants to murder the man."

"Yea, he does, but somehow I think Lockhart is a match for him." Hermione said.

"Yea right." Harry said, "Snape is scary, he expects me to be as good as my mum at potions, if I don't brew as good as she did, he takes points!"

"He knows what you can do." Hermione said, "you like to be lazy."

"I do not!" Harry said turning to Ron "Ron tell her that is not true!"

"I am staying out of this one." Ron said.

Before an argument could began, the headmaster led the school in the school song, on key, in the same tune. After everyone headed to bed and sleep. Over the next few weeks everyone found out just how vain and rich Lockhart was. All his suits were cut the same, from a Victorian mold straight from the 1850s (look it up, I can wait), on Mondays he wore a lemon yellow jacket and waistcoat with butter yellow trousers with matching spats over his brown boots. Tuesdays he wore a royal blue coat and waistcoat with powder blue trousers and spats. Wednesdays he wore a purple coat and waistcoat with lavender trousers and spats. Thursdays he wore a deep green coat with waistcoat with pale green trousers and spats. Fridays he wore a maroon coat and waistcoat with pink trousers and spats. Saturday he wore an orange coat and waistcoat with peach trousers and spats. Sundays he dressed all in white. The outer part of his cloaks matched his coat and the inner his trousers, his shirts were white with matching pinstripes of his coats and his cravats were all paisley that complemented each outfit well. There is so much detail on his clothes, I know but this is to show how very vain the man is, for he is still this way but a sweet loving man nonetheless.

The first class was a Monday and Lockhart swept into the class with a toothy grin, a perfect Hollywood white grin. He was just the right height, right weight and right charm to get Harry to dislike him at once. Dean, who was nearly as dark as his hair rolled his eyes. When the exams were passed out Harry blinked, and blinked again, he was sure they would be asked questions like what Lockhart's favorite hair cleaner was or his favorite color or something like that. But this quiz asked questions from Lockhart's textbook _Defense and You, What You Need to Know_ , a book Harry had not read. He did his best to answer the questions and handed in the quiz. Lockhart skimmed them and lingered on one and Harry knew which quiz he had lingered on. It was confirmed when Lockhart held him back and pushed the quiz to him, he had not got a single answer right.

"Mr. Fleamont-Black, I am disappointed." Lockhart said, "I came to teach and if you cannot read at least the intro to my text, how can you defeat evil? Oh yes, that scar you always try to hide, one day you will not get to hide. I am vain, I am beautiful, I know it, and I flaunt it, and why not? However that does not mean I don't know my subject. You have homework, read the introduction along with the first chapter and a page on the intro, if I don't like it you can sit detention."

"Yes sir." Harry said.

"Harry, I knew your dad, he was a git in school but he was a good man in the end. Your mother was smart, so smart and I know what you can do, lazy will not work with me, or professor Snape."

"Yes sir." Harry said.

"Off you go now." Lockhart said.

"Yes sir.' Harry replied.

Lockhart was not a bad sort at all, in fact he was strict but fair and very likable. He got a lot of respect from the school when he found out that little Luna Lovegood was being bullied, he was able to put a stop to that with McGonagall's blessing. It involved a deal with a curse breaker witch and a few well placed charms on the poor girl's things and person. Then Lockhart started a dueling club, and it was not all bad, he did duel Snape and ended up defeated, but not after he put up a good fight. He was a good sport and tried to give Severus as free copy of _Magical Me Among Heroes_ , but Severus threatened to boil his head. It was at a meeting that Nobel tried to get Harry in trouble, he knew he was a Parselmouth and thought no-one else did. However, Harry had been in contact with curse breakers and healers to find out what his talent offered and found he was better suited to curse breaking and law enforcement with the language.

Draco Nobel had agreed to duel with Harry and he had a smirk on his face as he walked up to do so. They were only second years so there was really not much they could do. Nobel was not aware that he was not going to get Harry in trouble with his little stunt. Sure everyone knew the dark lord was a Parselmouth, but so was the Stone family and they were healers and curse breakers. Even William Weatherly was able to speak the language for his work. Draco summoned a snake, but it nearly got Justin who was not pleased to say the least. Harry started to speak to it but it was one of the older girls, a Sarah Stone who came up and coaxed the snake away with her. Justin turned on Draco and proved that as a mundane-born he was powerful. Lockhart was a hair too slow (or so he said) and Draco ended up with bright red hair. He was adopted on the spot by Fred and George, Draco was not amused as he was walked off with his new "brothers".

"That was wicked." Harry said to Justin.

"Either he will be scarred for life by those two or like having brothers." Justin said, "I go for the former."

"Yea, that was unexpected but funny." Harry said looking up as Severus Snape walked up, "looks like I may be in trouble still."

"Not as of yet, but you will help me with Bertha, she is not being very nice." Severus said.

"Fine, fine I will go see Bertha, she is a big baby, gets a head cold and goes and sulks. Big bad basilisk can't even handle a small cold."….

Yes Hogwarts has a basilisk, and why not? When raised right a basilisk can be a great asset to anywhere really. They are feared for they can be deadly and there have been evil worms in the past. Yet nearly all were good like Bertha was and so Harry did go and see her. She had blue eyes and could, if needed kill with a look, she had to mean it and then and only then would her eyes turn yellow. She had killed several people back in the day, they had tried to come to Hogwarts to harm her and her students and Bertha had fixed them with a look from a dark corridor. That was the end of that, but now she was very old, she was the oldest basilisk at over a thousand years and was training her only child to take over when she was gone. Already she had promised her body to be used for potions and the like. The cold was not really a cold, she was dying and Harry grousing was the best way for him to deal with that pain.

"Come with me Mr. Potter." Snape said, "she needs your help."

"Fine, I have what I need." Harry said.

"Can I come?" Sarah asked.

"You may." Snape replied.

So it was that the three made their way to the chamber, it was on the ground floor and was need the entrance to the chamber of spells, where the basilisk lived. Harry entered the chamber and felt the sick from the great beast. She was beautiful, large and beautifully colored she would have smiled if her face allowed such a thing. She was curled up and Harry knew she was close to dying, she had not ventured from this cave at all in the last two years and never would again alive. Harry sat and rested his head against her still warm flanks and took out a book The Giving Tree was one of his favorites and he was able to read this to the great snake. He was able to finish the book and once he did he realized she had stopped breathing. Bertha was dead and Harry was not unmanly in weeping for her.

June 2008, Mildenhall, England:

Harry sat sipping a cup of tea a far away look in his eyes. He had not known Bertha long but he was still sad by her passing. Still her son was a good caretaker, Bob as he was called did a good job despite his youth. He was, after all only fifty years of age and was still learning how to take care of the great castle. His life was very good, yes, he had married Ginny and she was as good, loving and kind a wife as any could get. Plus she had a head for business like few others and had tripled the depleted Fleamont-Black fortunes. This led to Harry being able to rebuild the old Black mansion right on the Wastewater, it was the only settlement allowed and Harry was not allowed to expand out from the original foundations of the home and the outside of the home had to look as it would have in when it was built. This meant Harry had to build a great hall with two towers and a house withal attached. From the outside it was very medieval looking. Inside it reminded those that visited of Stewart house with how grand and whimsical it looked.

"Next you will tell me that Sirius Black is your uncle." I said half in jest.

"Well he is, he is my father's brother, both were to go to Slytherin but my grandfather and mother were happy and amused they ended up in Gryffindor."

"They were not upset?"

"No why would they be? House rivalries are there true but not to the point of madness. For one it is not guaranteed that one gets to Hogwarts, one has to test in, I had to test in. One has to have a good grasp on reading, writing and maths, must have good character and be strong mage-wise, family lines will not serve to get you in."

"Good, I thought Hogwarts was more like the books." I replied.

"More like getting into high school Japanese style." Harry said, "oh and yes, we must be able to speak and read and write Latin, Greek and Chinese, and then take one more language at Hogwarts to stay."

"Very forward thinking."

"Look you will have to ask the old bat about school." Harry said smiling, "no don't call him that even if his Animagmus form is a bat, no you need to go to The Borrow and talk to him there, his home is there."

I told him I would do so and realized that this interview, and story was going to be a book in its own right before all was said and done. I had to look up where the Burrow was, it was a magical village inside the Peak District, what surprised me as that it was located right by a popular hiking trail and lake, yet very few saw it as it was well hidden. I would go and find out for myself all about it and in time would learn about what made Hogwarts, well Hogwarts. I knew about the cold war affecting help to the magical community but it would be my visit to the Burrow that would show how much the cold war created Voldemort and what followed after.

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 _So yes, a basilisk created to protect the school. Ol' Voldy never did get to turn her and he never was able to really talk to her. Imagine his surprise when he found a great big snake protecting the school that was not impressed with him at all. Oh and yes, I would think that to get into an old school like Hogwarts you would need to pass exams to get in. I am sure she can house, at the most a thousand students. That seems like a lot but my high school had 1600 at the time I went. My home town at the time had 45,000 people probably the same amount of magical that there is in Great Britain. There were three high schools with roughly the same amount of students in my home town, so yea, to get into Hogwarts I would imagine would be highly competitive indeed. Kind of like how one has to take insane tests to get into Japanese High school._

 _Anyway, do review please!_


	4. Meet Severus

Chapter Four:

June 2008, The Burrow:

I headed to The Burrow an ancient mage community in the heart of the White Peak part of Peak District. This ancient village had been allowed to stay and was right near where mundane would pass on hikes and the like. However due to the terrain and magic, it was well hidden. Even without magic a hiker could be right near the place and not know it was there. I hiked to it to see just how well hidden it was and found if I did not know where to look, I would not have found the path that took me through a narrow place between hills to a small valley well hidden. There were twenty families that called this village home, fifteen lived in cave homes carved over generations from the limestone walls. One family, the Weatherly family truly had a bunker, it was near the entrance to the valley and was part of the reason there was a national park here at all. The mage in this area had helped as much as the statute would let them and so they were rewarded and gained this bunker as their home. There were boat homes, homes created from old boats upturned and this was where the rest of the families lived.

I saw a man working on chopping wood, you may think that all magical would use their wands to do lots of things, but this is not the case. This man was clad dark blue shorts, a pair of heavy buckled boots and no shirt. He was tanned and lean and had a tattoo of a snake on his upper arm. His dark greasy black hair was tied back from his face with black eyes and hooked nose. Aside from the choice of clothing I recognized him as the head of Slytherin House, Potions master Severus Snape. He turned and saw me and smiled, his teeth were in good shape but not straight or white as we in America like. He was not a bad looking man and with a deep tan he looked almost first nation to me. He grabbed a tee shirt, a brown shirt with a logo of Led Zeppelin on it and put it on. He added the wood he had chopped to a small radio flyer, levitated it and I knew I was to follow him. We came on one of the boat-houses, a long low building that I could see had two floors. Into this I went with the potions master. Inside was a great room that housed the kitchen, dining area and living room that had a large fireplace. It felt very nautical and I liked it at once. Minerva McGonagall was here clad in a simple short sleeved gown of green, her long dark hair tied back from her face.

"Is the mutt around?" Severus asked.

"No my husband is not around." Minerva said rising to greet me. "So glad you could come."

"I saw you at lecture at Salem." I replied, "I knew you were married but not to whom."

"Why Sirius Black of course, yes I know I am twenty years older than him, and even in the magical world that is, well rare. But we are soul mates and fitted for each other."

"Makes sense." I replied. "But twenty years is really not that much time, yet our birth rate compared to the no-maj is very low."

"Well, as we live nigh two hundred or more years and are powerful there are costs to that power. Very low sex drive, which is why so few magical are born compared to non-magical. Nature knows what she is doing after all. It's why Albus never wed and his brother did, had two wonderful children, twins, a boy and girl"

"Ah, and he is as powerful as Merlin or so I am told." I replied.

"He would disagree, ah Maggie my dear I brought you the flowers you wanted!"

I turned to see Sirius Black who does look a lot like Gary Oldman in the Sirius Black role, though he was taller and stocker of build. He was clad in jeans, boots a button up yellow shirt and a purple paisley waistcoat. He smiled at seeing me and bowed deeply too me. He walked over to Minerva and handed her a bunch of carefully picked flowers. I did not mind this kind of thing, while it is true that magical or not, human woman had a short window to have children, and magical women were on the shorter end of the time they could have children, matches like Minerva and Sirius did happen. It was only twenty years, Minerva born in 1929 and Sirius in 1949 but they were happy and still, in magical terms not really that old. A young man came into the house, he looked very similar to Severus except his long hair was curly and he had a neatly trimmed beard. He was clad all in dark brown leather, the kind of outfit fit for flying on a dragon.

"Hey dad, hello ma'am I am Macmillan Severus Prince Snape, you can call me Mac." Mac said. "I just finished Hogwarts and have come to get money from my dad."

"Certainly, if you finished the job I had for you." Severus said.

"Yup, Charlie helped and she is a beauty, right outside in fact."

"You really did it." Sirius said grinning from ear to ear, "oh I thought you might, clever Ravenclaw with a heart of a lion."

"Say any more and I hex you." Severus said, "the day you and your brother went to Gryffindor was a sad day indeed, though your parents were proud."

"Well yea, thought dad would be upset, being a Slytherin and all, but mum was fine with it, then again Hufflepuff are wise peace-makers." Mac said, "oh come see the dragon!"

I went out and saw her, for it was a she, I loved dragons and knew my breeds well. This was a Welsh Green, and she was truly green all over, males have a splash of color around their eyes and are slightly smaller. Dragons are not large in our world, well not nearly as large as folk lore would have. Dragons average twelve feet long with a wingspan nearly twenty feet across but no more. She was lovely and smiled at seeing me, she bowed and though she could not speak human words it was clear she had intelligence. Mac laughed, bowed to her and was on her back in a flash. He strapped on a helmet and the dragon took off at once into the sky staying low so the mundane never got a sight of her but it was fun to watch her fly. She landed and Mac took the helmet off and bowed to his father who looked a little less than pleased.

"Where is your sister?" Severus asked.

"Well Apple found her own dragon, and is flying over Scotland somewhere." Mac said.

"Apple?" I asked.

"Yes, their mother's idea and yes it is after a certain band." Severus said, "I would have preferred Michelle but there you have it."

"I see, "so I was told to come and see what tests one needs to get to Hogwarts, not that I could pass."

"No, no you could not, but you still got into a good magical school, Yarrow was it?"

"Yes, and I did well there too."

"Well then, yes there is a test and yes we find mundane born very early, and they are taught well from the age of six up. Yes Hogwarts does get a lot of mundane born, their magic is fresh and a quarter of all students are mundane born there. That is the real reason for persecution of mundane."

"We snatched up no-maj born for a time, to route the scourers, but the civil war ended them and nearly all mage in America for a time." I replied. "There is dark magic in New Orleans and we are trying to clear it, Detroit should be cleared soon, the dark was contained soon enough." I replied, "please do go on."

"The test is done on all magical and while it is true many ancient and noble make it in, there are many that do not, the new blood does better."

"So no prisoner of Azkaban?" I asked.

"Heavens no! Any witch or wizard guilty of what I was accused of in the books would go through the trial of wells and if found guilty, their head would be separated from their body." Sirius said, "we do use the guillotine, don't be shocked, you do too and you know why."

"I do, does not mean I like it even if 100 percent are guilty." I replied. "So third year for Harry?"

"Uneventful as was forth, now fifth, ah yes the Tri-mage tournament and yes, Harry did enter but lawfully and was accepted, his aunts were most displeased." Severus replied smirking at the memory.

November 1, 1985, Hogwarts

Harry was happy, he was part of the Hogwarts team! He knew he could handle what was thrown at him, he had made it to Hogwarts and did very well in all his classes. So naturally he entered and was chosen, along with Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, Blaise Zamboni and Fred and George Weatherly. He had not forgot how quickly news could get back to his aunts and how one head of house, namely Severus Snape was on good terms with his aunt Li. He looked up to see a brownie in the blue messenger livery walk up and take out what looked like a miniature old time record player complete with the horn. Harry paled and wanted to run, but he sat where he was as the brownie wound the player up and put on an actual record. His aunts took turns, congratulating him and promising that they were going to make him very sorry for his stunt. It was not as if he could die in this tournament, it never had been allowed and sure he could get hurt but he wanted to have fun and he was going to. Did he mention it was at full volume?

"HARRY FLEAMONT-BLACK, CONGRADULATIONS ON ENDING UP IN A MOST PEACEFUL TOURNAMNET THAT CAN'T POSSIBLY HARM YOU." Aunt Li said.

"YES IT WAS WONDERFUL ONE OF YOUR PROFESSORS SAW FIT TO LET US KNOW BEFORE YOU DID, MOST WONDERFUL." That was aunt Marge.

"PULL ANY MORE STUNTS LIKE THIS AND I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR NES!"

"No!" Harry said in horror and as if to answer him.

"Yes, and give it to someone else, you can figure out how to spend your days with out Zelda and Link!" Aunt Li was no longer yelling "I love you Harry, stay safe, don't get killed or I will dig you up and ground you until you are thirty."

"I was going for sixty." Aunt Marge replied.

"Nice family." Ron said.

"Ah but not as fun as ours." Fred one of the twin menaces said.

"Yes indeed mum did two and they went off at once." George said, "we have never, ever pranked a professor again."

"Let me guess you pranked professor Snape?" Harry asked and got two identical shakes of the head.

"Professor Sprout, you didn't, oh no, no, no!" Harry said, "sweet as sweets but deadly you are lucky to be alive!"

"We know." Both said as one.

Harry just grinned and went back to eating. He was going to have fun in this tournament and indeed he did. The first task was dragons, and it was a dragon race. Harry got a Norwegian Ridgeback, a fine dragon and a great racing one. Dragons were not like the ones in the books or even like the evil worms of Tolkien lore. They were smart, kind and wise but could be deadly. Breeds like the Ridgeback, Welsh Green and the American Yellow tail were born racers and loved to show off. Harry was a great flyer and in his new flying leathers helped with that. Harry won his race and gave a fish to Norberta who ate it and nudge him gently with her head. The other tasks were anti-climatic Harry thought to that first task. They had to swim through the black lake to find treasure as a team. Mermaids were not the beautiful creatures Harry had hoped for after all. The last task led to the return of Voldemort.

It started out innocently enough, there was a maze and the teams had to get through it. They all did wonderfully well, they faced all the dangers they were allowed, had to work through puzzles and the like and in the end they had to face a band of elves. They were exactly like Tolkien elves, all but for the fact they lived around 900 years old and were not immortal. All the same facing them and having to fight them but not harm them was interesting indeed. In the end all teams were captured by the elves but it was the Hogwarts team that lasted the longest and Harry was able to escape and get to the cup. Hogwarts was declared the winner, the cup was not a portkey as it was too well protected. No it was a shadowy figure that stole some of Harry's blood that he had wiped away with a tissue and tossed away. This led to a potion and Voldemort returning, though not to the strength he had before. Harry would find out in a rather abrupt way. He was called to the headmasters office to fine goblins there looking a bit upset.

"Mr. Fleamont-Black?" One said, "I am Gem-Stone." A female goblin said, "please tell me why I should not remove your head as of now?"

"Why would you do that, if you do that my aunts take all my money out of your bank." Harry countered.

"You helped bring back a dark lord!" She snarled.

"I did not!" Harry snapped.

"I am afraid it is true." Dumbledore said, "did you toss aside a tissue with your blood on it?"

"Yes sir, oh merlin!" Harry said, "oh, oh no! I, oh I am sorry, take my head if you must, I was careless and it's Voldemort isn't it?"

"Yes, he came into the bank demanding access to his vaults, naturally we denied him as he was listed as dead and the vaults were transferred to his family. He tried to curse us, us in our own bank!"

"I am sorry, but you know you guys used to follow dark lords." Harry said, not meaning it "who is to say you would not again."

"How dare…"

"Enough, what happened in the past is done, goblins are now on the side of good and light." Dumbledore said.

"Yea well they blamed me for something did not remember even doing!" Harry said.

"I am sorry, but he is a bad dark lord and wishes to bring darkness to the world. We goblins swore never to go dark after we were nearly wiped out, and because of our wicked ways the mundane know us only for evil. So you can understand why I would feel this way do you not?"

"Yes ma'am." Harry said, "I am sorry."

"As am I, but a small fee will be charged to you." Gem-Stone said a smile showing she was teasing.

"Certainly, for spilling blood on the headmaster's carpet, your blood." Harry shot back.

"Oh human child I like you!" Gem-Stone said, "but really do something about this dark lord will you? He is bad for business."

It was with that that Gem-Stone left and left a very worried Harry Fleamont-Black behind. Harry knew the stories of the last war, how Voldemort had used the excuse of WWII and of the cold war to launch his war. He did not care about anyone but himself and in the end he had cost so many good families everything. His being back was very bad for everyone concerned and Harry was not happy at all.

June 2008 The Burrow:

Severus was seated across from me near the fireplace looking into it. The war had taken a told on so many and he was one. True he had never joined _him,_ he never would have been allowed near children if he had. But he had been affected nonetheless. Both of his parents, good, kind people, his mother a pureblood but poor witch and his father a muggle had been brutally killed in the last war. He hated how they were portrayed in the books but understood JKR was writing a story. He had fought death eaters many times and knew how depraved and evil they could be.

"So the war, it was bad, very bad, but how bad did it get?" I asked.

"You know how you had an influx of mundane born?" Severus asked.

"Yes, we did." I replied, "I thought that they fled."

"They were spirited out, I helped with that once the ministry was taken over." Severus replied, "the only safe places left were Hogsmeade valley, the Burrow and Diagon Alley and even in Diagon Alley if a mundane born was found they were to be turned over at once. The best raid done was the theft of the book of souls, this kept track of all magical children, we used that to rescue the mundane born."

"How is that?" I asked.

"When a child does their first magic, it is recorded in the book of souls, well all human births are, if a child shows magic, the name goes from black to green. I helped remove the book from the ministry, they were most displeased." Severus smirked, "then again dear Gellert did help with that one."

"You mean the mass murderer Grindelwald." I snapped.

"Yes he killed, but he was no dark lord, nor did he care for purebloods."

"Next thing you will tell me is that Durmstang allows first generation."

"Only if they can fight, and many first generation could not, more can now, no Grindlewald was as born fighter and fight he did in WWII, he helped destroy the German ministry which is just as well, they nearly caused the collapse of the statute, which was are still not ready for. No he may be bad but a dark lord or lady is worse."

"So the war started again, what happened?"

"You will want to head to Hogwarts to see why it's not possible to attack and why it survived for so long, and was not sacked like many lesser magical schools were by the Vikings."

I had never thought I would go to Hogwarts even to visit. I never felt worthy but Severus seemed to think that is where I needed to go. I spent a day in the Burrow, it was a peaceful village that was built on lay lines and so perfectly safe and secure. Lay lines do very well with lots of natural light based magic and horrible with dark magic. Dark magic is not natural and is not something anyone should mess with. I had seen the affects that it had on others and had been horrified at the results. It was hard to cleans oneself of the darkness, possible but very hard for much of it, yet some never could be cleansed and a person would remained cursed by their own hand for life.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 _So yes I have made the magical world a more shall I say sterile place. There don't seem to be a lot of births in the magical world, the population is so low. I would think that would be due to very, very low sex drives and many would not have one at all. There is no shame in not having a sex drive and I would think nature would not want a lot of magical humans running around, hence the low drive._

 _So yes, Harry was in the tournament but I changed it to teams (which makes more sense if you think about it). He did bring back the dark lord but not intentionally and he will have to deal with the aftermath of that._

 _Anyway, do review please!_


	5. Meet Dumbledore

Chapter Five:

July 2008 Hogwarts, Scotland

It was a few weeks before I got to the Hogsmeade valley and was shocked I did not take the train but a plane. Severus was with me and explained that planes with special runes attached could fly to Hogwarts. Severus himself was flying, this did not surprise me, many magical humans fly planes and with the ability to Apparate, it was a perfectly safe pastime, yet to fly to the ancient Hogs valley, that I was not expecting. We flew over what looked like a bare valley and the plane descended to land. Then mists cleared and showed the Hogs valley and the communities of Hogsmeade, Hogshead and Hogswold respectively. Hogsmeade was nestled against the outer walls of Hogwarts. It was a town and looked like an ancient Roman town. Severus circled the school and I was able to see how amazing this ancient school was. It was older than Jo said by two hundred years but I could say with confidence it was like no other building on the planet.

It looked much as it had for twelve hundred years, the only change was the covering of the twelve towers (one to each corner of the main building and eight on the outer walls) with a charming witch's cap for a roof. It was whitewashed with beautiful red tiled roofs and she was huge, easily eight stories high, yet she took up little land space and was easily big enough to house the thousand students, 50 teachers, 100 brownies, 25 security and two hundred dwarves that lived under the school. We landed at an airstrip just outside Hogsmeade and walked to the tiny terminal. There waiting for us was a gently smiling Albus Dumbledore. He was tall and lean had had pure white beard and hair that flowed over his chest and down his back. He was clad in navy blue robes that had stars and moons over him and he had a pair of purple buckled shoes on. Jo had got his dress down correctly. He smiled at me and his blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses.

"Welcome my dear to the Hogsmeade valley." Dumbledore said, "I trust the flight was good in?"

"Yes, very, I felt something coming in." I replied.

"Ah yes the protection stones and the cloaking" Dumbledore said, "we have to keep the mundane out, many don't see why as they will find out about us soon enough."

"Which is why all mages must learn about the mundane world and how to act there." Severus replied, "or leave Hogwarts."

"Voldy never got here." I said getting a smirk from Severus, "he cursed his name and well we can't call him you-know-who, Voldy is better, though there is a more vulgar name"."

"Well we shall not use that." Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling, "but come, see lady Hogwarts, she is beautiful."

I followed him into the school, under a large gate, through a tunnel with murder holes above (that thankfully had never been used) and up a path to the entrance hall attached to the great hall with a tunnel behind tall oak doors leading to the school proper on the right hand side. The great hall was amazing, that was all I could think as I gazed on this cathedral to learning. For it was, in a Roman sort of way, for the Romans had built things bigger and better than any aside from the Egyptians in the Western world before the cathedrals were built. There were statues of the founders at the head of the hall behind the dais that the teachers sat on, right now there were no tables and workmen and women were working on repairing the hall before the new school year began. Banners hung from the rafters and high above these one could see the outside sky though I knew that this was the famed charmed ceiling of legend. He then led me into the school and took me on a tour that took the full day.

I had never seen the like before, lady Hogwarts was beautiful, from carefully laid mosaic floors to carved bannisters on the stairs and beyond. The classrooms were a thing of beauty, they had tables that could be put away for the practical parts of class, for aside from potions, most work that was not lecture was done standing. The potions classrooms and labs were across from what looked like a modern hospital in miniature form and were full of light and airy. Dangerous potions that required a dark room were not brewed at Hogwarts. Each station looked straight out of a page of a science catalogue. Severus showed me his labs, and I fell in love, this was magic at it's purest I thought. The last places I was allowed to visit were the four houses high atop the school, not a one was in the dungeons and all the students were safely housed up at the top floors. They had airy common rooms in one of the four towers up here and the dorms were spacious and filled with four poster beds.

"This school is beautiful," I said, "thank you for letting someone like me visit, I would never have passed the tests to get in here."

"You should not discount yourself." Dumbledore said, "I think you would have done well here. I have had many ask that can't come, squibs and Harry's aunt wrote to come herself."

"You did write her a letter." I said.

"If course I did, I saw how good her grades were in muggle school and wrote her and told her if she had magic I would be honored to have her. I even went as far as to help her get a place at St. Mary's School for girls, a gifted school indeed."

"You are a good man." I replied.

"I have done things and even though it was war, well, no matter, I do like how dear Miss Rowling portrayed me, such a lovely dear." Dumbledore said eyes twinkling, "my sister runs St. Mungos and has for a very long time, my brother is mayor of Hogshead and will retire when the Cubs win the world series."

I stared at Dumbledore eyes wide. Dumbledore, an Englishman of Englishmen, head of Hogwarts one of the most premiere magical boarding and non boarding schools of mage-craft in the world liked American baseball. Not cricket but _American_ baseball. I would love to know how that came about, I could understand Hockey more as the English adopted it from a game those of the Norse nations and France played and was adopted by the Canadians. But baseball, that was quiet the stretch, Dumbledore smiled a sad smile and lead me to his office where a full English tea waited and he told me a sad tale.

Hogwarts Medical Wing, August 1985:

Harry staggered under the weight he carried and once more cursed Voldemort with vile curses. The magical humans had fled to the safety of the Hog valley and to the safety of Diagon Alley as they knew what Voldemort was about and did not want to be part of that. Still Voldemort had enough troops to attack Diagon Alley and Harry had been in the alley and smack in the middle of things. He had fought but not as well as the mage forces, for yes, there was an army of sorts with the magical world. Harry had seen an innocent go down, cut down with a dark curse. He had acted and ran to the downed man and saw he was going to die if something was not done. He took out his emergency portkey, grabbed the man and activated the portkey which dropped him off just outside the medical wing of Hogwarts. He staggered in with the man and Poppy ordered the trainees under her to make a bed ready. She scanned the man and realized she could only make him comfortable and nothing more.

"That bad?" The man said in an American accent. "I managed to get two, then one got me."

"Yes, I am sorry but I could only slow the withering curse, there is no cure." Poppy said.

"You killed two of them." Harry said, "one was Rabastan Lestrange, his brother will be pleased, your family will get a reward for that."

"Oh good, well my country will not be too happy, I am Thomas Cole, the new American Ambassador or was."

"Will they get involved with the war?" Dumbledore said walking into the room.

"No, no not at all." Cole said, "but MACUSA is not going to be happy, nor will my brother and his family."

"You did nothing wrong, you helped save ten children who were in the path of the curse." Dumbledore said walking in looking old and tired. "I will see to it you are rewarded."

"Guess my death will not be so bad." Thomas said, "how long do I Have doc?"

"That is matron Poppy to you, now you have a week at most, and that is with a highly experimental potion."

"Well, at least I will have a week, I can set things in order." Thomas said.

"I can be here with you." Dumbledore said.

"Thank you, and I can give you my notes on how to stop a dark lord who made Horcruxes."

"Ah so he did." Dumbledore said looking sad, "I thought as much."

"Yes, probably seven, but that will not help him, the soul is connected even when shattered and so finding one means you find them all and banishing one means you banish them all."

Dumbledore stayed talking to the young ambassador for hours each day. He learned all about American baseball and found it a very fascinating sport. He grew to like the team Thomas did and was able to view the games he had gone to in a pensive from Thomas's own memories. From that he learned everything about the team and found this was better and easier to follow than cricket. At the end of the week Thomas passed and his body was carefully tended to and shipped back to America. Dumbledore was in his office looking sad and loosing a good friend when Lucius Noble came to pay him an visit looking very nervous and upset. He was tall with shoulder length blond hair and matching beard. He was clad in a three piece power suit with matching cloak.

"Can I speak to you about something urgent?" Lucius said dropping his pureblood act, for he was Dumbledore's spy and had been for years, "and give you this."

"Ah the book of souls, how did you get this?" Dumbledore asked.

"Rookwood, the dark lord has enemies, and he is quite bad for business." Lucius said, "he has taken over the ministry."

"Ah that is a problem." Dumbledore replied.

"Which means you still have time to act." Lucius replied, "move the mundane born out of the country, now, and get everyone else to here or the Burrow if you can, or Diagon Alley the goblins will defend it."

"They did not do as good a job last week." Dumbledore said. 

"Well forgive them for believing that the dark lord would honor the treaties, but now he has not the goblins can go after him for using the alley as he did." Lucius replied. "Back to the ministry."

"What will you do?" Dumbledore said.

"Best you do not know, for now it is best to get the mundane born to safety, when you find a mundane born, you must warn their parents." Lucius replied.

"That will not go over well." Dumbledore said, "but I can let them know we are on top of this, for you are?"

"I am, suffice to say this half blood son of a squib rapist and her unfortunate victim is not going to destroy my world, so terribly bad for business you know."

With that Lucius was gone leaving Dumbledore to think about what to do next. Lucius was a good sort, snobbish, rich and he did believe purebloods and those raised in the magical world should rule as new blood just did not have the experience. Yet he believed that they had a place in their world and had a right to live and grow in their new culture. Dumbledore did not like how Lucius did things all the time, and how he had to keep him in the dark, but he did like the fact he was loyal to the people. Things were going to change and he hoped this time less innocent lives would be lost. He had little idea what Lucius would do and really, he did not want to know what he was going to do. It helped lesson the guilt after all.

July 2008 Scotland:

"So it is true the ambassador was brought here." I said.

"Yes, he was, and I never did fully find out what Lucius did. I don't know how he got the book of souls out of the hands of the ministry but it has never gone back." Dumbledore said, "he helped save many, many lives. Voldemort was out to burn the world to the ground as were his followers. Lucius would never join such a man no matter what his political leanings were."

"I see, the books said he was a willing follower, but it makes sense he would not be, it would be bad for business am I right?"

"Yes, but despite his prejudice heart he is willing to do the right thing." Dumbledore said, "come you must see the baths, they are truly inspiring."

I was confused for a moment at the term but when we came to a large space with a vast swimming pool I learned this was what he meant by baths. It was set up almost exactly like the pool in Bath I had visited which was pure Roman, only larger. It was underground but one could not tell as the ceiling and one of the walls was charmed to see out side, the ceiling the sky and the wall the forest. Right now it was showing a fine summer day and made me feel at home for I love the forest and live very close to one. Yarrow is not far away and sits right on the edge of an ancient forest. Hogwarts was beautiful and I loved everything about it. One thing bothered me and I asked the headmaster about it.

"Sir you don't seem so concerned the ministry was taken over by Voldemort, why is that?"

"Because the ministry was made obsolete on the action, what do you know of English law and government?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not much." I confessed.

"Well Parliament is under the queen you understand that?"

"Yes sir, I do know you have the queen that heads your nation and the commonwealths."

"Yes but she has the prime minister under her and under them there are the ministers, one of which is the minister of magic with his own ministry. The minister of magic is elected by magicals as part of the treaty however this is as long as it remains free and clear."

"Which it had not when Voldemort took over." I was stumbling less and less over the hated name of the evil dark lord. "So that meant it was dissolved?"

"Yes and reformed and moved to Camelot, it's a small settlement that is still very real but hidden from the world, a small village with the ministry below, much like Diagon Alley."

"Which was built by the goblins?" I asked.

"Yes, they hollowed it out hundreds of feet below London and Gringotts vaults are below that, which is why you can't rob Gringotts, or fly a dragon out, bless me that was fun to read!" Dumbledore said, "as with dear Severus killing me, actually that bit was cold and cruel."

"So during WWII the magical could go about their business in Diagon Alley while London was reduced to rubble?" I asked.

"Well not fully, they had to floo in, could not use the Leaky Cauldron, which was bombed flat. The Phoenix is much more modern and mundane can see it but don't feel the need to go in, ever."

"I have been, feels like a modern restaurant with a bar." I said, "so the old ministry was done away with, what about the department of mysteries?"

"Never attached, that is in the tower of London, well under it." Dumbledore replied.

"That makes sense." I replied.

"It does, and it answers to the queen, and it is truly a beautiful place, what I have seen, it is for research and though secrecy is used it is a place masters can go to experiment and create without the fear of their work being stolen. The books did get it wrong on that, it's called the department of mysteries for the fact the mysterious is studied, though not a veil of death, and I do hope we never find or create one of those." Dumbledore said.

I was pleasantly surprised when I was offered rooms here to stay for the rest of my interview. I thought I would get a hotel in Hogsmeade but was offered my own suite of rooms with a brownie servant. Brownies were short like house elves with pointed ears but looked more like elves from Christmas cards down to dressing chiefly in greens and reds. Misty was to take care of my rooms and with whatever I could need at the time. I had a wonderfully large bed with curtains to close, a fire in the fire place for it was cold to me in Scotland and a large bathroom with huge tub, shower vanity and walk in closet. The windows looked over the forest, an ancient place that students were banned from visiting.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 _I love Hogwarts in the movies, it is beautiful and charming but far too medieval looking. So I turned her into a Roman fort though with some changes added. Even if the magical world is separate from the mundane, the ministry and minister of magic would still be under the queen and under the prime minister._

 _As for Diagon Alley being underground, well if one knows anything about London, London sits on a compact of sturdy clay. But if you go deep enough then you have bedrock, which is what the tunnels of Gringotts would be in, ergo Diagon Alley would be underground too. Even in the books this would make sense, Harry and Co. got away from Gringotts because they were let go, the goblins set things up so they would continue to look neutral while helping._

 _In this world the magical use mundane technology as why not? I don't see why they could not work together._

 _Anyway, do review please!_


	6. Meet Griphook

Meet Griphook:

Diagon Alley 2008:

I had wanted to stay at Hogwarts and continue interviewing those there, but I received a letter from an unexpected source, Griphook the director of Gringotts in Diagon Alley far below London. She, yes she wanted to meet with me, I of course knew about the real Griphook and knew she was part of a powerful clan and had brought great honor to them as she worked her way up to the post she held now. I headed to Gringotts and found myself outside Gringotts itself.

Now the thing to know about goblins is that they are not human anything. While Flitwick really is very short, he is fully human and was bestowed the honor of half goblin for helping the goblin nation out in a very deadly and honorable way. Goblins are to human eyes strange to say the least. They stand on average just under five feet tall and have drab green scaly skin with limp white hair, and all adults do have fangs. They have yellow eyes and really are not the type of people one would really want to mess with. They were a noble race of beings, good, a bit greedy (much like humans) but good people.

There had been a time that they would have fit right into Tolkien's world as the evil Orcs for Orcs is what they were and goblins too. They had been as awful and blood thirsty and everything mean and horrible, just as the old tales stated. Yet fifteen hundred years ago they changed, they gave up their evil ways and turned from murder and all sorts of horrible things to bankers and, when needed fighters for the side of good. In the magical world now goblin meant good and someone you could trust (though that depended on whom you spoke to) though as bankers they were in it for the money the same as everyone else. Though they made sure to be as honest as they could of course.

Gringotts is built deep underground like all of the district of Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley looks like a Roman town with tall stucco buildings built straight next to each other and on a grid. No crooked streets here, though not terribly wide as it was all foot traffic here. A thousand people lived comfortably down here and if one did not know one would think that one was above ground as there was an artificial sky above that mirrored London above. Gringotts was made of pure marble, and looked crooked but this was due to it being built straight as a ruler as it were. I walked up to the gold doors and saw two guards in full silver plate armor with long spears and with blue surcoats with a golden dragon on the front.

Entering the bank I found myself in a beautiful space that felt like a bank. I spoke to the guard at a desk and handed my card over and in short order was taken back to an office where Griphook waited. She was clad in a long blue over gown with short sleeves with tiny golden dragons on it that fell to her ankles, she had a gown under this of gold with white flowers. A leather belt with white gold flowers on it was at her waist and her hair was tied up in a bun. She had golden slippers on her feet and bid me welcome to a combination modern and medieval with beautiful oak furniture and colorful tapestries on the walls with a camera system on the walls and computer on the desk.

"Please, have a seat." Griphook said, her voice was soft and pleasant, and made her features easier to look at, goblins no matter how good they are now still unnerve me and really should not, as they swore to follow the good path. "I am glad you could come, I have traveled much and wanted to meet you, I am shall you say a fan."

"Well I do write the truth and do all I can to not be biased." I replied.

"Very good, we love the books though it is laughable that any could think that our bank could be broken into and a dragon ride out. We do use dragons of a sort, but they are cave dwellers as it is and love their job to guard, they cannot fly as you know."

"I do, but Voldemort did try to break into the bank, how did he get away?" I asked.

"He didn't fully, let me explain." Griphook replied.

January 1986, Gringotts Bank:

Griphook was furious, how _dare_ a dark lord try to enter her bank as he had? He had broken so many treaties if she had not known that he was a dark lord she could declare war on the humans. As it was all she could do was let him escape for now, well let him think he had. While physically he had escaped, anything he had in the bank was now the bank's and Griphook gladly took charge of the vaults that one Tom Marvolo had acquired and were his. Griphook was in her office working on paperwork when a goblin clad in the teller's uniform of brown three piece suit came in and bowed to her.

"My lady director." He said, "we have found something evil."

"Oh?" Griphook asked, "what is it?"

"A Horcrux my lady director." He replied.

"I see and who's is it?" Griphook asked.

"The dark lord who calls himself Voldemort."

"I see, well, bring in the curse breakers." She commanded.

A team of human, goblin, dwarf and elf (not brownies true elves similar to those in lore with very long lives but not immortal) came together lead by the youngest curse breaker master in centuries. One William Weatherby was his name the eldest son of Arthur and Molly Weatherby. He was tall with long curly red hair he kept tied back and clad in dragonskin, boots trousers, waistcoat and duster all in brown with a green button up shirt under the waistcoat. He had pouches at his waist and a satchel over his shoulder, his blue eyes were filled with light of youth. Despite his youth he was very much able to tackle what was here.

He needed the team as even one Horcrux was not something one wanted to tackle on their own. One would assume the unspeakable would tackle this but they were too busy with other things and besides they did not need the temptation one of these could cause them, or something like that. So it was a young curse breaker named William Weasley would examine the Horcrux with his team and find out a grave and shocking thing. Something that really put this dark lord on a level of stupidity that rivaled anything else. He sat back from his examination and sighed. The dark idiot had made more than one, and what he did not know is that when one made more than one each was connected to each other. It would be very easy to find the other ones and destroy them now. It seemed the madness and lack of intelligence had struck one Tom Marvolo from the Gaunt line. Even being the son of a muggle had not spared him from that.

"Seven." Bill said to Griphook.

"Ah, and you can find and destroy them?" She asked.

"Harry can, I find them, he flies them to Kilauea, has to have a bit of a journey and Italy is too close to toss them in. Kilauea will not mind and will love to destroy the evil things." Bill replied.

"And he gets to see Hawaii, very well, find them and have him take a trip halfway round the world." Griphook said.

Bill grinned and after bowing headed out to collect the Horcruxes. Griphook took a seat at her Macintosh computer. This was a marvel of magic and mundane technology, and, it worked far better in the magical world at this time. All goblin banks had them and they were very secure for what needed to be done. Griphook got on a secure online account and sent several secure messages out.

Gringotts 2008:

That is quite the tale, we knew Harry destroyed the evil things but not how. That he flew to Hawaii to get rid of them was impressive but then a volcano would work best, even Tolkien knew that much in his fictional world. Griphook finished her tale and ordered tea. I was not much into drinking tea and was surprised that when it came there was hot chocolate for me in place of the tea that everyone seemed to drink over here.

"You did your research on me." I said sipping the dark chocolate drink, "I am impressed."

"Well, we once were an evil and horrible people." Griphook said, "we have to make up for that."

"Trolls still are, though mundane have these dolls they call trolls that are far too cute, small and nice to be trolls." I replied, "I nearly got eaten by one when I was a child. Good thing my uncle had grenades."

"That is good." Griphook said grinning. "But yes, Mr. Fleamont-Black did destroy those evil things and went on an adventure to do so."

"Good, good I am glad to hear that, the books were amazing but I knew he had finished off the dark lord by the end of his fifth year."

"That he did, and had a great time in his sixth and seventh." Griphook replied, "have you any more questions?"

'Yes, who is your tailor?" I asked, "your gown is beautiful."

"Thank you," she replied, "I use Coco Chanel."

"I was not aware that brand had a magical side." I replied.

"Oh it does, dear madam Coco was a mage herself, not a strong one but she was a mage, it came in useful during WWII, she was part of the resistance and helped save many lives, the Nazis never suspected her." Griphook said. "Tell them I sent you, they will take good care of you."

I liked Griphook, she was enjoyable to talk with and so unlike the goblins in the book. Then again JK Rowling did not know how goblins were in the modern world. No longer were they were blood thirsty evil fiends of ages past. Oh they would stand up for their rights but they were not evil or dark as in days past. I found it amusing that JK Rowling would have so many names right but other details not so right. But then she had created a world of her own that did mirror Harry Fleamont-Blacks though not as closely as one would have thought. Goblins and Griphook for example. I headed back to Hogwarts as I hoped to be able to stay there for a time and interview more people. That and learn if Harry Fleamont-Black had figured out how to surf in England.

 **x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

 _Yes I had to make Goblins the good guys here. Yes I turned Griphook into a female and had her in charge of the bank. Why not? I wanted Goblins to look more like well Goblins that most think of, green skinned with fangs. As with everything in this story, technology and magic work just fine together. Oh and yes, using a volcano is perfect and yes I think having Harry learn now to surf would be fun while he is in Hawaii._


End file.
